Its anarchic anti-hero and pointed cadences echo the cinema of discontent that flourished in the late 1960s and '70s—acerbic, theatrical exorcisms in which dialogue served as caustic societal critique.

Its compelling first page draws you in to the strange world of Wilbur McCrum, dispossessed anti-hero extraordinaire and his outrageous adventures through cowboy country, meeting with tarts, religious swindlers, bank robbers, bounty hunters and freak shows, grappling with the problem of his great love, Ida May, who is dead and embalmed but being carted around by Wilbur.

The filmmakers argue vehemently that "Zuck" should be seen as a hero or at least as an anti-hero, but for those less familiar with the mythology, his on screen presence often veers to the side of villainy.